After more than a decade, Netflix’s The Life Ahead brings back to the screen the legendary Sophia Loren. Set in Italy’s port of Bari and based on Romain Gary’s book The Life Before Us, the movie tells the story of an aging Holocaust survivor and ex prostitute who makes a living sheltering the children of …
“In order to overcome so many deplorable forms of hate we need the capacity to involve ourselves together in remembering. Memory is the key to accessing the future and it is our responsibility to hand it on in a dignified way to young generations”. With these words Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Holy See Secretary of State, …
Archives are our historical memory, and no one knows better than Lucrezia Signorello. A young Italian scholar, in 2017, she obtained a research scholarship from the Italian Jewish Heritage Foundation to explore, in collaboration with the Rome Jewish Community and its historical archive, the history of Jews in Rome between the 16th and 18th century. …
A month after his death, friends and family will honor in a conversation online the life and work of the writer Aldo Zargani, the unforgettable author of the memoir “Per violino solo. La mia infanzia nell’Aldiqua. 1938-1945 – For Solo Violin. A Jewish Childhood in Fascist Italy”. The meeting will be held Thursday 19th November at …
As a consequence of the ongoing pandemic, the elections to renew the Council of UCEI – Union of Italian Jewish Communities, which were initially planned for November 15, will be held in March 2021. The decision was formalized last week by UCEI Council accordingly with the opinions of the Board of Arbitrators and the Rabbinic …
Gariwo’s founder and current president, Gabriele Nissim has been awarded with the Raoul Wallenberg medal. By recognizing the recipient’s exceptional moral character, such a highly symbolic prize honours the memory of the Swedish diplomat to whom the Foundation is dedicated. During the Holocaust, Raoul Wallenberg saved thousands of Jews and others who were being persecuted in …
By Adam Smulevich Last public testimony for Liliana Segre, 90, survivor of Auschwitz and since 2018 Senator for life upon appointment by the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella. To conclude thirty years of commitment on this front, a speech was held in front of the highest authorities of the Italian State in the “Cittadella della Pace” …
Walter Benjamin died on the night of 26-27 September 1940. 80 years later, what is left of Walter Benjamin? Friendship. It is only friendship – the friendship he had with Gershom Scholem, Theodor W. Adorno and Hannah Arendt, above all – which allows us to keep memories of Walter Benjamin today. It was Adorno – …
By Anthony Grafton* On July 22, 1955, the Times Literary Supplement welcomed the appearance of a new scholarly book with an enthusiasm rarely matched in its gray, closely printed pages. Pride of place, in those days, went not to the cover but to the so-called “long-middle”—a substantial review, which normally faced the correspondence columns. On this summer …
By Pagine Ebraiche staff There is no period in Italian history more celebrated, praised, and idealized than the Renaissance. Thanks to artists and intellectuals, a new awareness came to light. A new humanism replaced the traditional way of thinking manifesting itself in art, architecture, politics, science and literature. This great revolution did not leave untouched …
By Susannah Heschel* “Which is the merchant here? And which the Jew?” asks Portia as she enters the courtroom, disguised, of course, as the maledoctor of laws, Balthasar. Portia’s gender disguise is accompanied by her confusion: can she not recognize the Jew on sight? In Shakespeare’s wonderfully subtle, implicit way, he is also suggesting that Portia …
In summer 2016, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg flew to Venice. Her son was performing in a production of The Merchant of Venice in that city, and she was presiding over a mock trial based on the play. The event marked the 500th anniversary of the Jewish Ghetto in Venice and drew wide attention, also thanks …
By Pagine Ebraiche staff A logo, for an institution, is a way to talk about its very identity. For this reason, it must be simple and effective. Such elements were acknowledged by the international jury of the 26th Compasso d’Oro ADI award in the logos of MEIS (National Museum of Italian Judaism and Shoah) in …
By Pagine Ebraiche staff On Yom Kippur, the sound of the shofar will resonate for the first time after a century in the magnificent Great German Schola in Venice, the first of the five synagogues in the area of one of Europe first Jewish ghettos. Built in 1529, this Schola is an essential stop for …
“With Amos Luzzatto, a leader and an extraordinary man have disappeared. It is an indelible sign what Amos, for two terms president of the UCEI, essayist and active disseminator of the thousands of years of Jewish experience, has left throughout Italian society”. With these words, the president of UCEI – Union of Italian Jewish Communities …
President Sergio Mattarella led the tributes to Liliana Segre as the Holocaust survivor and Life Senator celebrated her 90th birthday on Thursday. The head of State called Segre and thanked her for her efforts to combat hatred, violence and discrimination, sources said. Born into an Italian Jewish family in Milan, Liliana Segre was deported to …
An Italian story of commitment to the memory of the Holocaust will be represented at the 41th Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards, which will take place on September 20th. The documentary by CBS The Lost Music, chronicling the unfailing commitment of the Italian composer and pianist Francesco Lotoro to give life to music from …
Millions of Italian pupils are heading back to school, after six months at home. But the bell already rang in some Jewish schools. A week ago, students went back to their classrooms in Rome, Milan, Turin, and Trieste (the four Jewish schools presently active in Italy). It was an extraordinary moment for students, teachers, and …
By Pagine Ebraiche staff “Resistance to antibiotics is one of the most severe problems in modern medicine”. The alarm was raised by the Nobel Prize Ada Yonath at ESOF2020, the biennial pan-European, general science conference that ended yesterday in Trieste at the presence of the Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte. The Israeli scientist, who won …
“Culture, dialogue and respect are the foundations of our coexistence”. Intolerance and racism must never be underestimated, and it is up to every one of us “to bring to life, through confrontation and encounter, the values of civility and solidarity upon which the republican Constitution is based”. This was the message sent yesterday by the …